International Journal of Drug Policy 11 (2000) 245–250
Book review
www.elsevier.com/locate/drugpo
Mental Hygiene
:
Classroom Films —
1945
–
1970
, by Ken Smith, Blast Books, New York
1999
The road to hell
Ken Smith was working for The Comedy
Channel, excerpting industrial and classroom
films for programming laughs, when he be-
came addicted to what he terms ‘mental hy-
giene’ movies. These were a few thousand
short subjects — 10 min in length and called
‘social guidance’ films — created by a small
number of speciality studios (mainly in the
Midwest) for classroom viewing. Their topics
were driving, dating, sex, drugs, hygiene, and
— generally — getting along in life and with
others. As he screened the films for humorous
moments, Smith became aware that they
shared distinctive themes and techniques.
Smith came to see the genre as ‘‘a uniquely
American experiment in social engineering’’.
Although today we find the themes ultracon-
servative, in fact the filmmakers represented a
liberal-thinking progressive streak of Ameri-
can striving for self-betterment.
Begun after World War II — when young
people, freed from the depression and the
War, were creating their own culture — the
films educated adolescents about ‘correct’ be-
havior, including good grooming, manners,
and citizenship. The films grew from wartime
‘attitude-building’ works (some produced by
leading Hollywood directors) meant to in-
spire both military personnel and those on
the home front. For young people in the late
1940s and the 1950s, the chief message was to
fit in. The films disdained independence and
bohemianism, or looking or acting different
in any way. That someone might simply not
fit the mold of well-groomed, attractive ado-
lescent (not to mention that someone would
reject this image!) was simply not conceiv-
able. Teens who were not able to fit in were
portrayed as frankly deviant and deeply trou-
bled, often ending up in tears or worse.
With boys the message was to avoid delin-
quency and impulsive and dangerous behav-
ior, to practice good manners, and to
achieve. For girls, the message was to get a
man; films told teenage girls to downplay
their intelligence and independent thinking in
order to curry dates and eventual marriage.
Today, The Way to a Man’s Heart (1945)
and More Dates for Kay (1952) would be
shown as object examples of the oppression
of women. But, while the girl in More Dates
for Kay throws herself at every man she
meets, she was of course not to let her des-
peration push her into offering sexual favors.
The 1947 Coronet film, Are You Popular,
made clear ‘‘Girls who park in cars are not
1
Stanton Peele is author (with Charles Bufe and Archie
Brodsky) most recently of Resisting
12
-Step Coercion
:
How to
Fight Forced Participation in AA, NA or
12
-Step Treatment.
His previous books include Lo6e and Addiction and Diseasing
of America.
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